Page 265 - Mass Media, Mass Propoganda Examining American News in the War on Terror

Afghanistan and 9/11

Post-Taliban "Democracy":
Afghanistan as a Failed State

The major American media have quietly acknowledged that there are a number
of major problems in Afghanistan today. Media outlets, however, generally
choose to portray the country, despite a few snags, as working toward democ-
ratic empowerment. Americans can read in mainstream newspapers that Af-
ghanistan is stabilizing out of its own volition, although with some U.S. assis-
tance. The main catalysts for the depiction of Afghanistan as an "emerging
democracy" were the 2004 and 2005 Presidential and Parliamentary elections,
which resulted in the first elected government in that country. According to
Business Week, elections represented a "First step. . . on the path to democ-
racy."9 The Washington Post asserted that, through elections, "the Afghan peo-
ple took another step toward lasting peace and prosperity while dealing a blow
to terr~rism."'~ Neo-Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer and William
Safire vociferously celebrated the "miracle" of Afghan democracy." The United
States was said to be "directly responsible for this outbreak of freedom in a
Muslim land," as Safire explained that Muslims too, "can be democrats."12 Such
a paternalistic, condescending framing of Afghan democracy as inferior to
American democracy was also seen in the reporting of the New York Times,
which depicted the "students" of "Afghan Democracy 10 1" as under the tutelage
of the United states.I3 The top-down approach to "imposing democracy" repre-
sents a serious departure from those who criticize U.S. involvement in Afghani-
stan from the late 1970s to this day as harmful in terms of hampering Afghan
rights and freedoms.
Despite whatever past neglect the U.S. displayed toward Afghanistan,
American leaders were said to be in the midst of a major change in their policy
goals. Charles Norchi of the Boston Globe spoke optimistically of "a new start
in Afghanistan" where "the goal is a stable and responsible state that will not
breed terror."I4 Such reporting implied that the Northern Alliance, which con-
trols much of Afghanistan, could be trusted in promoting stabilization, human
rights, and democracy. Were consumers of American media to closely follow
reporting on Afghanistan, however, they would have seen two clear, but antago-
nistic trends within the coverage: 1. Reporting closely followed the Bush ad-
ministration's celebrations of a "new" Afghanistan that was said to be on the
right track in terms of promoting human rights, reconstruction, and democracy.
This Afghanistan, despite facing major hurdles, was working successfully to-
ward peace and stability; and 2. More critical appraisals in the mainstream press,
where readers could learn of a different Afghanistan-a land with a weak gov-
ernment-what some considered a failed state in terms of its reliance on the
illicit drug trade due to its weak central economy. This land was characterized as
increasingly unstable and insecure; as it lacked much of the basic infrastructure
needed in any functioning society.
The picture of Afghanistan as deserted by the U.S.-a picture that was of
less use to an administration interested in promoting the image of U.S. cornmit-
ment to nation building-received less and less prominent attention as the war in